Underwater vessel



`Iuly 21, 1970 F, 0, KEMP k3,521,589

UNDERWATER VESSEL Filed Feb. 19, 1969 l 2 Sheets-Sheet l FIGA f /05 a* aJ9 l r 67 7 s; NGA

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\\w f l n i" REBER/cfr l EMP k IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIQBYMJEM UNDERWATER VESSEL Filed Feb. 19, 1969 FIGA 2 Sheets-v-Sheet L.

INVENTOR.

Faves/cx 0. KEMP BYgw ,u Y A05 W 4free/vens' United States Patent O ILS.Cl. 114-16 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF TiilE DISCLOSURE An underwater vesselcomprising a shell having a pair of propelling and maneuvering devicesmounted on opposite sides thereof. Each of the propelling devicesincludes a transversely extending hollow gooseneck, having anarm-receiving opening in one side thereof. An L-shaped arm assemblyincludes a hollow base portion extending coaxially through the gooseneckand a hollow secondary portion extending transversely of the baseportion, geared thereto, and projecting through said armreceivingopening. The secondary arm section includes a drive shaft-receiving borein its sidewall. A drive shaft assembly extends coaxially through thearm assembly and includes a segment which projects transversely of thesecondary arm and out the drive shaft-receiving opening and mounts apropeller on its projecting end. Means are provided for rotating thegooseneck, primary arm, and drive shaft independently whereby thegooseneck may be rotated on a horizontal axis, the primary arm pivotedon an axis perpendicular to the horizontal axis, and the drive shaftrotated to drive the propeller.

A joy stick apparatus is provided for controlling the propelling devicesand includes a mount having a slip bar carried for longitudinal movementthereon. A slide plate is carried on the slip bar for transversemovement and a gimbal collar is carried from the slide plate forrotation about a iirst axis and a joy stick is carried pivotally fromthe collar for rotation about a second axis. A control system includespotentiometers which are coupled with the slip bar, slide plate, collarand stick, whereby sliding of the slip bar or slide plate will adjustseparate potentiometers to effect corresponding adjustment of thepropelling devices and rotation of the gimbal collar, or the stick willeffect corresponding adjustment of other potentiometers to effectadditional control of the propelling devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present inventionrelates generally to underwater vessels and more particularly toprecision control thereof.

Description of the prior art Presently known underwater vessels utilizerudders and elevators for maneuvering thus requiring linear motion inorder to accomplish certain maneuvers. There are no -underwater vesselsknown to applicant which include propulsion devices having propellerswhich are rotatable into any selected orientation to provide propulsionof the vessel in any selected direction.

The objects and features of the present invention will become apparentfrom a consideration of the following detailed description when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevational side view of anunderwater vessel embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational left end view of the underwater vessel shown inFIG. 1;

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FIG. 3 is a detail view of one of the propulsion devices included in theunderwater vessel shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view, in enlarged scale, taken along theline 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional View taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a joy stick control apparatus which maybe utilized with the underwater vessel shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged, partially broken away, View of a portion of thejoy stick apparatus shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a schematic of a rst portion of an electrical system which maybe utilized with the underwater vessel shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a schematic of a second portion of the electrical system whichmay be utilized with the underwater vessel shown in FIG. l;

FIG. l0 is a schematic of a third portion of the electrical system whichmay be utilized with the underwater vessel shown in FIG. l;

FIG. 11 is a schematic of a fourth portion of the electrical systemwhich may .be utilized with the underwater vessel shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a modification of the underwater vesselshown in FIG. 1 and depicting an analog computer in the control system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, theunderwater vessel of present invention includes a cabin defining shell13 having propulsion devices, generally designated 15 and 17, mounted onopposite sides thereof, and propulsion devices 18 and 19 mounted onopposite ends thereof. With continued reference to FIG. 4, thepropulsion devices 15 and 17 each includea hollow L-shaped gooseneck,generally designated 21. A hollow base arm 25 and a transverselyextending hollow secondary arm 27 are carried in the gooseneck 21 andare geared together. The secondary arm 27 includes a transverselyextending drive shaft-receiving bore 31 in its projecting extremity(FIG. 5) and a drive shaft assembly, generally designated 37, projectscoaxially through the primary and secondary arms 25 and 27 and extendsout the bore 31 to mount a propeller 39. Thus, the gooseneck 21 may berotated to swivel the propeller 39 about a horizontal axis, the primaryand secondary arms 25 and 27, respectively, rotated to pivot thepropeller 39 about an axis extending perpendicular to the horizontalaxis and the drive shaft 37 rotated to drive the propeller 39.

Referring to FIG. 2, the propelling devices 15 and 17 are controlled bythe joy stick apparatus, generally designated 45, which has sixpotentiometers 47, 49, 51, 53, 55 and 57 for orienting the propulsiondevices 15 and 17 and controlling the speed of propellers 39 and 41.

As best seen in FIG. 4, the goosenecks 21 include base portions 61 whichextend laterally of the shell 13 and have perpendicular necks 63 whichare formed with openings 59 in their ends. The inner ends of the baseportions 61 are formed with external ring gears 65 which mesh with drivegears 67 driven by respective drive motors 69 (FIG. 12).

The base arms 25 are formed on their inner extremities with externalring gears 71 which are driven by drive gears 73 that are, in turn,driven by drive motors 75 (FIG, 8). The outer extremities of the basearms 25 are formed with bevel gears 79 which mesh with bevel gears 81carried on the inner extremities of the transversely extending secondaryarms 27. The outer extremities of the secondary arms 27 are formed withlaterally projecting bosses 85, in the ends of which the driveshaft-receiving bores 31 are formed.

The drive shaft assemblies 37 include base shafts 91 having pinions 93on their inner extremities which are driven by pinions 95 carried on thedrive shafts of drive motors 97 (FIG. 9). The outer ends of the baseshafts 91 are formed with bevel gears 101 which mesh with bevel gears103 formed by the inner extremities of transversely extending secondarydrive shafts 105. The outer extremities of the secondary drive shafts105 are likewise formed with bevel gears 107 (FIG. 5) which mesh withbevel gears 109 formed by the inner extremity of a drive shaft segment111 mounting the respective propellers 39 on their projecting ends.

The propulsion devices 18 and 19 located on each end of the shell 13include housings which mount horizontally disposed propellers 39 thatare driven by reversible motors whereby such propellers may be driven inone direction to provide lift to the vessel and may be reversed to lowerthe vessel.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, the control apparatus 45 comprises a pair ofparallel, longitudinal mounting bars 115 and 117 carried from thestructure of the shell 13 and formed with longitudinal slots 119 and121. A pair of parallel transverse slide bars 123 and 125 are supportedon the mounts 115 and 117 by means of followers 127 which are receivedin the respective longitudinal slots 119 and 121. The transverse slidebars 123 and 125 are formed with respective transverse slots 131 and 133which receive followers 137 that mount a slide plate 139.

A pair of upright brackets 141 and 143 are mounted on the slide plate139 and rotatably support the outer extremities of a pair of transversesupport pins 147 and 149 that are affixed on their inner ends toopposite sides of a gimbal collar 151. The gimbal collar 151 rotatablysupports the opposite ends of a longitudinal pivot pin 153 which carriesa joy stick coupling 155. Received telescopically in the upper end ofthe joy stick coupling 155 is a joy stick 157 which is keyed againstrotation by a key 159. A hollow handle 161, which is keyed againstvertical movement by key 167, is received rotatably over the upper endof the joy stick 157 and has a push button 163 mounted in its upper end.A dead mans, or safety switch, 165 is coupled with the lower end of thepush button 163 for discontinuing power to the control whenever thebutton 163 is not depressed.

FIG. 8 depicts electrical circuitry which may be ernployed with thepropulsion devices and 17 and control apparatus 45 of present inventionfor controlling the motors 75 driving gear 73 and positioning boss 85.The

simplified circuitry shown includes a battery 171 connected across theend wipers of potentiometer 49 and also across a resistance 173. Theresistance 173 is center tapped and connected to one side of each of thedrive motors 75 of the devices 15 and 17 by means of leads 175 and 177.The other sides of such motors are connected with the center wiper ofthe potentiometer 49 through power amplifier 197 by means of leads 181and 183 such that the two motors 75 are connected in parallel. Aconventional feedback system 199 detects the angular rotation of thesecondary arm 27 and feds such information back into the potentiometer49 to avoid overshoot and insure rapid assumption of the desiredposition.

FIG. 9 depicts the portion of electrical circuit which may be utilizedfor controlling the motors 97 of devices 15 and 17 that drive the driveshaft assemblies 37, such circuitry including the potentiometers 47 and57 with a battery 191 connected thereacross. The wiper of thepotentiometer 47 is connected through power amplifier 197 to theadjacent terminals of the motors 97 and the wipers of the double gangedpotentiometer 57 are connected through power amplifiers 197 to theopposite terminals of such motors 97. Potentiometer 47 alone providesfor longitudinal movement and is also used in conjunction withpotentiometer 49 for lateral motion and potentiometer 53 (FIG. 12) forroll movement. Potentiometer 57 is used for yaw movement.

FIG. l2 schematically depicts an analog computer 195 which may beutilized with the control system shown in FIG. 6, the output of thepotentiometers 47, 49, 51, 53, 55 and 57 providing an input to suchcomputer and the output from the computer 195 being fed throughrespective amplifiers-197 to the drive motors 69, 75, 97 and 99.Feedback loops 199 and 201 are also included for preventing overshootingand assuring accurate control.

FIG. l0 depicts electrical circuitry which may be utilized forcontrolling the motors 99 of devices 18 and 19 that drive the propellers41, such circuitry including the potentiometers 51 and 55, poweramplifiers 197 and a battery 189 connected thereacross. The wiper ofpotentiometer 55 is connected through power amplifier 197 to theadjacent terminals of the motors 99 and the wipers of the double gangedpotentiometer 51 are connected through power amplifies 197 to theopposite terminals of such motors 99. Potentiometer 55 provides forvertical movement and potentiometer 51 provides for pitch movement.

FIG. 11 depicts electrical circuitry which may be employed withpropulsion devices 15 and 17 and the control apparatus 45 of presentinvention for controlling the motors 69 driving gear 67 and positioninggooseneck 21. The simplified circuitry shown includes a battery 193connected across the end wipers of potentiometer 53 and resistance 203.The resistance 203 is center tapped to form a bridge circuit and isconnected to adjacent terminals of the motors 69. The center wiper ofpotentiometer 53 is connected through power amplifier 197 to oppositesides of motors 69. A conventional feedback system 201 detects theangular motion of the gooseneck 21 and feeds such information back intothe potentiometer 53 to avoid overshoot and insure rapid assumption ofthe desired gooseneck 21 position.

In operation, the control apparatus 45 will have all its componentsbiased to their neutral position wherein the side propulsion devices 15'and 17 will be facing rearwardly as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the endpropulsion devices 18 and 19 will be facing upwardly as shown in FIG. l.When the vessel is to be maneuvered, the dead mans button 163 isdepressed to close the switch 165 and provide power to bridge circuitwhich control the drive motors 97. The vessel may be caused to movedirectly forward by the operator grasping the handle 161 and sliding theslide bars 123 and 125 forward on the mounting bars and 117 to adjustthe potentiometer 47 to its more positive position thus unbalancing thecorresponding bridge and causing the propellers 39 on the sidepropulsion devices 15 and 17 to rotate in their forward direction todrive the vessel forward.

To cause the vessel to move sideways, the operator will move the handle161 to the right or left, depending on the direction desired, to causethe slide plate 139 to likewise move to the right or left on the slidebars 123 and 125 thus adjusting the lateral adjustment potentiometer 49and unbalancing the corresponding bridge. Such bridge unbalance causesthe motor 75 to rotate the drive pinion 73 (FIG. 4) thus rotating therespective base arms 25 thereby causing the secondary arms 27 to rotateand reorienting the propellers 39 to face to the right or left, asdesired. It will be clear that the amount of wiper movement in thepotentiometer 49 will cause a proportionate amount of rotation of thearm 27 to provide a corresponding amount of swing for the propeller 39and that the feedback signal through the loop 199 will cancel thecommand signal when the desired adjustment is attained. Without theanalog computer, the operator must also move the handle 161 forward orrearward to adjust potentiometer 47 causing propellers 39 to rotate.

To cause the vessel to move vertically, the handle 161 is raised orlowered to cause the stick 157 to correspondingly raise or lower withinthe housing 155 thereby adjusting the potentiometer 55 to unbalance acorresponding bridge and drive the motors 99 of the end propulsiondevices 18 and 19 to cause such devices to rotate their respectivepropellers 41 in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction as dictatedby the initial movement of the stick 157 to propel the vessel upward ordownward (FIG.

As best shown in FIG. 11, to cause the vessel to roll, the stick 157 ispivoted to the right or left to adjust the potentiometer 53 therebyproviding a signal to cause goosenecks 21 of the propulsion devices 15and 17 to assume the desired reciprocal orientation. Without the analogcomputer, the operator must move the handle 161 forward or rearward toadjust potentiometer 47 causing the respective propellers 39 to rotatethereby placing the vessel in the desired roll. Feedback loop 201rebalances the bridge circuit providing a null signal to motor 69thereby proportionately displacing the position of gooseneck 21 thedesired amount. If gooseneck 21 of device moved upward, then gooseneck21 of device 17 moved downward a proportional amount.

The vessel is caused to pitch or rotate about a transverse horizontalaxis by pivoting the stick 157 forwardly or rearwardly to adjust thepotentiometer 51 to provide the desired signal to cause one of the endpropellers 41 on propulsion devices 18 and 19 to push upwardly and theother to push downwardly (FIG. 10).

The vessel is caused to yaw, or rotate about a vertical axis, byrotating the handle 161 on the stick 157 to adjust the potentiometer 57thus providing an actuating signal to cause one of the side propellers39 on propulsion devices 15 and 17 to push and the other to pull toaccomplish the yaw maneuver desired (FIG. 9).

From the foregoing it will be clear that the propulsion devices ofpresent invention provide means for precision movement in any directionof an underwater vessel. The control system enables the operator toconveniently orient the propulsion devices to accomplish maneuvers withcomparatively great precision and, by employing the computer, suchmaneuvering may be accomplished blind and with greater accuracy andease. Travel in any combination of directions can be accomplished bymerely manipulating the joy stick apparatus to initiate the appropriatecombination of command signals.

Various :modifications and changes may be made with regard to theforegoing detailed description without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

I claim:

1. An underwater vessel, comprising:

a shell;

a pair of propelling devices mounted on oppsite sides of said shell,said devices each including a gooseneck pivotable about a horizontalaxis and formed with a horizontal passage having an opening in one sidethereof, an arm assembly including a hollow base arm disposed in saidpassage and a hollow secondary arm projecting transversely of saidhorizontal arm, through said opening and being formed on one side with adrive shaft-receiving bore means coupling said base and secondary armstogether, each of said devices also including coupled-together driveshaft sections projecting through said horizontal and vertical arms anda segment projecting transversely of said secondary arm and out saidbore, and a 6 propeller mounted on the propecting end of said segment;and

drive means to independently rotate said respective goosenecks and armsto orient said propellers and to turn said drive shaft to drive saidpropellers whereby said propellers may be oriented to drive said vesselin any direction.

2. An underwater vessel as set forth in claim 1 that includes: elevatordevices mounted at opposite ends of said shell and including a driveshaft, a propeller connected with said drive shaft and reversible drivemeans for driving said drive shaft.

3. An underwater vessel as set forth in claim 1 wherein: said goosenecksinclude transversely projecting necks having said openings formed in theend thereof.

4. An underwater vessel as set forth in claim 1 that include:

joy stick apparat-us including a mount aixed to said shell, a slip barcarried on said mount for longitudinal movement thereon, a gimbal collarcarried pivotally from said plate for rotation about a first axis, a joystick carried pivotally from said collar for rotation about a secondaxis; and

electrical control means including a rst control element coupled withsaid slip bar and responsive to movement thereof to orient saidpropelling devices for propelling said vessel longitudinally, a secondcontrol element coupled with said collar and responsive to rotationthereof to orient said propelling devices for pitching said vessel, athird control element coupled with said stick and responsive to rotationthereof to orient said propelling device for rolling said vessel.

5. An underwater vessel as set forth in claim 4 wheresaid joy stickapparatus includes a handle rotatably mounted on said joy stick; and

said control means includes a fourth control element coupled with saidhandle and responsive to rotation thereof to cause said vessel to yaw.

6. An underwater vessel as set forth in claim 4 wheresaid joy stickapparatus includes a slide plate interposed between said slide bar andsaid collar for transverse sliding on said bar; and

said control means includes a fth control element coupled with saidslide plate and rseponsive to movement thereof to orient said propellingdevices for propelling said vessel laterally.

7. An underwater vessel as set forth in claim 4 wherein:

said joy stick apparatus includes a coupling carried by said collar andtelescopically receiving said stick; and

said control means includes a control element coupled with said stickand responsive to raising and lowering thereof to orient said propellingdevices to raise and lower said vessel.

References Cited UNITED STATES `PATENTS 2,291,940 8/ 1942 Babcoke 114-163,356,055 12/1967 Link 114-16 TRYGVE M. BLIX, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl.X.R. --35

